The semiconductor device, including an electrode formed on the surface of a semiconductor element; and a metallic ribbon connected to the electrode. The metallic ribbon has a depressed portion on a surface contacting to the electrode, and the metallic ribbon is connected to the electrode in such a state that the metallic ribbon is deformed toward the inside of the depressed portion.
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1. A semiconductor device, comprising:
an electrode formed on the surface of a semiconductor element; and
a metallic ribbon connected to the electrode, wherein
the metallic ribbon has a depressed portion on a surface contacting to the electrode, and the metallic ribbon is connected to the electrode in such a state that the metallic ribbon is deformed toward the inside of the depressed portion.
2. A semiconductor device according to
3. A semiconductor device according to
4. A semiconductor device according to
5. A semiconductor device according to
6. A semiconductor device according to
7. A semiconductor device according to
8. A semiconductor device according to
9. A semiconductor device according to
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The disclosure of Japanese Patent Application No. 2006-36104 filed on Feb. 14, 2006 including specification, drawings and claims is incorporated herein by reference in its entirely.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a semiconductor device, and more specially, a power semiconductor device using a ribbon bonding.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a power semiconductor device such as an inverter or the like, high current such as several dozen through several hundred Ampere is flown between electrodes of the device. Because of this, a ribbon having large cross-section area is used for connecting the electrodes.
The ribbon bonding is performed by pressing the metallic ribbon 57 having an approximately rectangular cross-section onto an electrode (not shown) formed on the surface of the semiconductor element 5 with applying ultrasonic vibration. Consequently, plastic flow of the metallic ribbon 57 arises, so that the metallic ribbon 57 is connected to the electrode.
However, in the event that the above-mentioned high current is provided intermittently to the metallic ribbon 57 of the power semiconductor device 500 according to an operation of an inverter, the metallic ribbon 57 is broken away from the electrode of the semiconductor element 5, which causes failure of the semiconductor device 500. Consequently, there arises a problem that there is a limitation to the guaranteed life-time of the semiconductor 500. The coefficient of linear expansion of the semiconductor element 5 made of silicon, for instance, is approximately 2.3 ppm/degree, while the coefficient of linear expansion of the metallic ribbon 57 made of aluminum, for instance, is 23 ppm/degree which is approximately 10 times as much as that of the semiconductor element 5. Therefore, in the event that the semiconductor device 500 having heating value of several hundred W, for instance, operates, the connecting portion between the metallic ribbon 57 and the electrode is heated to the temperature of a hundred and several dozen degree, and then thermal stress is generated at the connecting portion based on the difference of the coefficients of linear expansion. It is considered that the thermal cycle fatigue is generated at the connecting portion by the difference in temperature between the temperature when current is applied and the temperature when no current is applied, which causes the separation of the metallic ribbon 57.
Correspondingly, it is suggested that the connecting strength is increased by increasing the pressure or the oscillation energy applied during the bonding step, or by increasing the amount of time for the bonding step. However, there arises a problem that the bonding machine becomes larger and more complex or a problem that the semiconductor element is destroyed during the bonding step, or the like.
As shown in
As shown in
An object of the present invention is to provide a semiconductor device using ribbon bonding in which connecting strength of a metallic ribbon is increased with suppressing deformation of the metallic ribbon.
The present invention is directed to a semiconductor device, including an electrode formed on the surface of a semiconductor element; and a metallic ribbon connected to the electrode, wherein the metallic ribbon has a depressed portion on a surface contacting to the electrode, and the metallic ribbon is connected to the electrode in such a state that the metallic ribbon is deformed toward the inside of the depressed portion.
As clearly described above, according to the semiconductor device of the present invention, the connecting strength can be increased with suppressing the deformation of the metallic ribbon, thereby the downsized and highly reliable semiconductor device can be provided.
The power semiconductor device 100 includes a base board of cupper, for example. An insulating substrate which has metallic patterns 3 on both surfaces respectively is fixed on the base board by using a solder layer (In
As shown in
When the semiconductor device 5 is rectangular or square and of which one side is within a range of 5 mm to 20 mm, for instance, the metallic ribbon 7 is preferably about 0.5 mm to 5 mm in width and several hundred μm in thickness. The depth of the groove 17 may be about 0.1 mm, for instance. It is noted that the metallic ribbon 7 may be made of tin, for instance, instead of aluminum.
In order to obtain good connection between the metallic ribbon 7 and the electrode 8 of the semiconductor element 5, it is needed that the metallic ribbon 7 and the electrode 8 are scratched each other, so that newly-formed surfaces with no oxide film or the like, which are formed on the surfaces of the metallic ribbon 7 and the electrode 8 by the scratching, should be contacted. It is considered that the main mechanism for forming the newly-formed surface is a slip of metallic atoms along a crystal surface during the plastic deformation of the metallic ribbon 7. In order to obtain a lot of slips, it is needed to increase the amount of the plastic deformation of the metallic ribbon 7.
AS shown in
Meanwhile in the power semiconductor device 100 according to the embodiment 1 of the present invention, the metallic ribbon 7 has grooves 17. As indicated by the arrow 9 in
That is, the good connection at the interface between the metallic ribbon 7 and the electrode 8 can be obtained with preventing the breakdown of the semiconductor element 5. Consequently, the separation of the metallic ribbon 7 from the electrode 8 during the operation of the power semiconductor device 100 is prevented, so that the power semiconductor device 100 with high reliability can be supplied.
It is noted that the cross-section of the groove 17 is rectangle in this embodiment, the same effect can be obtained, however, by using a metallic ribbon with a groove of which cross-section is triangle, half circle, or the like. The cross-section of the groove can be controlled by changing shape of a die which is used for drawing step.
The metallic ribbon 7 according to the embodiment 2 of the present invention has a configuration which is made of a plurality of cylinders apposed along the longitudinal direction (in a direction perpendicular to the sheet) of the metallic ribbon 7, and partially connected.
As shown in
The ribbon 7 having depressed portions 27 can be obtained by drawing a metal wire through a die with an opening identical to cross-section of the depressed portions 27.
When the metallic ribbon 7 according to the embodiment 2 of the invention is used, plastic deformation can be occurred in a direction toward the depressed portion 27 as indicated by the arrow 9 in
Specially, by using the metallic ribbon 7 of which cross-section is made of a plurality of circles apposed each other as shown in
In the ribbon bonding step, the metallic ribbon 7 is ideally aligned along above and below direction of the drawing as shown in
On the contrary, when the metallic ribbon 7 having a obtuse corners (or R-shaped corners), the distance between the corner of the metallic ribbon 7 and the edge of the electrode 8 does not become too short even when the metallic ribbon 7 is bonded along the direction tilted the above and below direction. Consequently, the metallic ribbon 7 does not contact to the other electrode even when the plastic deformation of the metallic ribbon 7 during the bonding step is large.
As described above, according to the power semiconductor device 200 of the embodiment 3, it is possible to keep enough distance between the corner of the metallic ribbon 7 and the edge of the electrode 8, even when the metallic ribbon 7 is bonded to be tilted from the above and below direction. Consequently, the energy applied during the bonding step and the deformation value of the ribbon 7 can be increased in comparison with the power semiconductor device 100 shown in
That is, according to the power semiconductor device 200 of the embodiment 3, the distance between the adjacent electrodes of the semiconductor element 5 can be reduced, and the area and/or the width of the electrode can be also reduced. Consequently, the downsizing of the semiconductor element 5, particularly the downsizing of the power semiconductor device 200, can be obtained.
The metallic ribbon 7 having obtuse corners (or R-shaped corners) can be obtained by cutting a ribbon-shaped metal with a guillotine cutter, for instance.
It is noted that when a ribbon-shaped metal is cut in the cutting lines 20 shown in
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